Star Fleet in Look-In : Part 1

Examining the comic adaptation by Angus Allan and Mike Noble

Did you love watching Star Fleet? Were you sad when it ended? Guess what, there are more Star Fleet stories to tell and the best place to start is the comics.

Now, in my family growing up, the comics page of the newspaper was the single most valuable asset brought into the house on a daily basis. My siblings all competed to read the funnies while Dad was after his crossword. Alliances were formed. Terrible betrayals committed. Treaties were broken. All in the name of finding out what happened next to the likes of Flash Gordon or Garfield.

But despite that, I never have loved to read comics based on my favourite movies and TV shows. It just isn’t my thing. Much as I love comics, and much as I love movies and TV, I’ve always viewed them as somewhat separate beasts.

With this deep dive into Star Fleet, I am hoping to rid myself of this prejudice once and for all and complete a missing chapter in the X Bomber history books. Why not join me? You’re going to be surprised at what you find!

Star Fleet began its run on UK TV on the 23rd of October 1982 networked across nearly all regions.¹ Look-In dutifully did a cover story in issue 44 of Volume 12, dated the week ending October 30th. The previous issue teased a “brand new Saturday Morning Show” under the big story that week.²

On page 6 of Issue 43 (above something suspicious called Big Daddy’s Saturday Show³) was a tiny blurb with a black and white photo of Commander Makara which incorrectly listed the exciting new series as airing at 10:30, instead of 10:00. If you tuned in at the later time, the programme was already over. My guess is most readers were too distracted by the large picture of Han Solo on the same page to notice.

In a post-Jimmy Saville world, it’s impossible to imagine images like the one in the bottom left being published, but this was a more innocent time.

Did you know that Dr. Benn would prefer X Bomber to be a lab in space? News to me!

The fanfare was considerably amplified for the next issue which not only featured Star Fleet front and centre on the cover, but also a colour centre fold-out poster with all the characters pictured with biographies.

There was even a two-page spread explaining what Star Fleet is all about. Of course, a lot of the details are very fuzzy. The Dai-X components are referred to as Brainder, Jumbody, and Legstar. John Lee is said to be nicknamed “Fatty.” Obviously, much of this information came from poorly translated Japanese publicity material and not from the Michael Sloan English TV scripts. However, there are some very tantalizing details such as dimensions for the Dai-X and a short glossary of Star Fleet lingo. Apparently, quantum speed is sub-light speed and hyper speed is faster-than-light or warp speed. Glad we’ve cleared that one up.

Far and away, I’d say the biggest bombshell in these pages is that Makara is half-male, half-female. If this was the idea, it may have been a first for British TV (a transgender character was cut from the English language Battle of the Planets) but it is probably a garbling of the idea that Makara has a male symbiont.

“Star Fleet has even been described as a cross between Thunderbirds and Star Wars, which is quite a tag to live up to!” the writer tells us breathlessly.

But no comic– yet.

Scanned by transdiffusion.org

For a bit of background, Look-In magazine first hit newsstands across Great Britain in 1971.⁴ Guiding them through these turbulent early years was Alan Fennell. He had nearly two decades of experience in publishing for the children’s market by this time, and had been a long time partner with Gerry and Sylvia Anderson’s Century 21 Organisation, where he helped launch the publishing division with Keith Shackleton, served as the original editor of the legendary TV Century 21 comic, and wrote teleplays for Fireball XL5, Stingray, Thunderbirds, and UFO.

Naturally, connecting the writer of such classic Anderson productions as Thunderbirds: Terror in New York City or UFO: Sub-Smash with Star Fleet would be remarkable, but sadly Fennell moved on from Look-In before the Japanese series was even conceived.

Whereas TV Century 21 was concocted to fill the hole left by the declining Eagle comic for boys, the vision for Look-In was originally very different. It started life as a print supplement for the TV series Magpie, which is remembered today as ITV’s attempt to rival Blue Peter. The pop culture and television focus led to a completely different backer.

“Alan Fennell had done the dummy – he was most adept at dreaming up magazines and creating dummies,” writer Angus Allan said in a 2003 interview reproduced on downthetubes, “He had, as you can imagine, many contacts in the magazine publishing world, and TV Times took an immediate interest in the projected publication.”

Like it’s junior edition, the grown-up TV Times had Star Wars mania the week Star Fleet debuted. Channel 4 would launch in November and got lots of press coverage too.

TV Times was ostensibly a publication telling adults what time their favourite programmes were on the air. By becoming a “junior” TV Times, Look-In followed in the footsteps of TV 21 which was a “junior” version of a newspaper. Admittedly, the results were considerably less vivid.

Gerry Anderson and Alan Fennell sign autographs during the 1990s Thunderbirds revival. Fennell spearheaded Anderson comics once again during this time.

Without Fennell, Look-In was placed in the capable hands of editor Colin Shelbourne who held the top post all the way until 1992. A detailed interview with him can be found here.

Several Star Fleet X Bomber comics are hosted on xbomber.co.uk

The Look-In strips were by no means the first or the most popular adaptations of the show. In Japan during the 80s, it was de rigueur for most anime (cartoons) to have a manga (comic) adaptation, sometimes released simultaneously. X Bomber, produced by a team with a great deal of experience in both fields, was no exception. Go Nagai was attached to write this comic and the art was by a young Naoki Kamohara, who would work again with Nagai on Mazinger Z. A second comic followed suit, but was drawn by Makoto Ono, who apparently went on to work on the Transformers franchise.

France, another place where X Bomber was a hit and comics are a big deal, had their own entry. However, if you’re dreaming of art of the quality of a Hérge or Moebius, think again. The Bomber X comic is roughly drawn and sticks very close to the storylines of actual episodes. Both of these comic adaptations deserve further examination, but I’m saving that for another time.

Allegedly, Mike Noble did not like Asian art. Some chin wags over at the Mike Noble appreciation group on Facebook⁵ claim this, citing poor treatment of British soldiers during World War II as the basis for his prejudice. If Mike was prejudiced, the results did not creep into his work.

The Star Fleet strip he drew for Look-In was just a footnote in Mike’s portfolio. Working steadily from the 1950s and on into his retirement years, Mike single handedly tackled hundreds of subjects in comics and illustration, including The Lone Ranger, Beetle Bailey, Popeye, Star Trek, The Adventures of Black Beauty, and perhaps most famously, Fireball XL5. Devotees of his work usually cite XL5 as not only the best of his comics, but also as far better than it’s source material, the Gerry and Sylvia Anderson space adventure series. I debated this point at length in a special episode of The Security Hazard Show⁶ with my co-host Jack Knoll.

Angus P. Allan wrote the Star Fleet strip, and like Mike Noble he had an extensive portfolio including a long stint at Look-In where he wrote dozens of comic strip titles. https://downthetubes.net/archive-interview-look-in-writer-angus-p-allan/

Both writer and illustrator had experience adapting puppet shows successfully to the comics page but neither would particularly highlight Star Fleet as a memorable title to themselves. Yet, for kids in those early days when home video was just getting started, the Look-In strips would be the only way to revisit the beloved characters of Shiro, Hercules, and Lee between Saturday mornings. Let’s dive in, shall we? There will be spoilers!

The first page of the Star Fleet comic as seen in this very poor quality scan from the DVD booklet– notably the only time these strips have appeared in colour! It was originally created in black and white.

Note that the series logo changed in the upper left hand corner.

“A super new adventure series starts today!” Publicity photos of Shiro and Makara dare the reader to dive into this new world.

Right at the beginning, it seems as if the comic will follow the continuity of the TV series exactly. Will this be the case or will there be a departure? Mike Noble has skillfully managed to capture all the character of the puppets yet he gives them slight tweaks to appear a bit more proportional and flexible to better suit the action of a comic strip. This view of Makara’s bridge is one we never see in the series– presumably the result of Noble’s creativity and a lack of good reference material. No DVDs to painstakingly examine in those days!

The Ocean Fleet, here labelled “valiant defenders,” are given a brief moment in the sun– before the carefully rendered Imperial Fighters smash them to bits.

PPA’s debut is hidden by the large bubble coming from Lee’s mouth– I’m sure he would be very offended.

The configuration of X Bomber’s bridge has also been jiggered with for the sake of a little artistic composition. I have to say, our heroes do not look altogether displeasing in this style. As the news comes in of another defeat at the hands of the alien invaders, Shiro seems to suggest a more devious strategy.

Whereas in the TV show Shiro and co. charged straight into battle, this comic imagines that the Earth crew are more wily. Ironic given that it’s usually Makara who pull the wool over their eyes, not the other way around. Notice anybody missing?

Yes, it’s Dr. Benn– evidently busy elsewhere. Shiro sends Lamia to go and fetch him. Bit demeaning for the future savior of the Earth, but no one knows her identity yet and she’s always been a humble sort.

Look-In would eventually become known for it’s A-Team comic– within which B. A. Baracus presumably used slightly more streetwise lingo than “hang loose” but that strip was still a few years away.

Lamia prefers not to set Kirara TOO much at his ease. Despite this, we don’t get to see him lose his cool yet.

So far, my inquiries into who was responsible for the colorization of these strips in the DVD booklet has turned up nothing. If you know, please do get in touch!

I misread that as “Doctor Benn, Absolute Man” which works too.

This Shiro, unlike his TV predecessor at this stage in the story, is proactive and full of ideas. He pitches his plan to Doctor Benn who looks sage and dapper in the comic panels.

It’s especially funny since, in the series, Makara’s dirty tricks are a big source of the animosity the X Bomber crew feel towards her. Here, Shiro is playing trickster.

And Benn is a big fan!

This Mike Noble guy sure can draw spaceships!

Commander Makara rages at her troops– you can practically hear Denise Bryer commanding from the page. She takes the bait– hook, line, and sinker.

Makara prays to the Imperial Master for guidance. It’s the sort of thing that she would normally do with her symbiont but it’s her lips that are moving here, not the mini-face.

Startlingly, the Imperial Master responds through the mouth of the symbiont. Keep in mind the writer and illustrator had probably only read a few scripts and not seen much of the series, so they were probably a bit unclear on how this particular part of the process was supposed to work. To be honest, it’s a bit unsettling and creepy… In a good way! It’s almost as though Makara is being possessed by the Master with all the horrific and disturbing implications that entails.

With every Imperial so easily fooled, Hercules and Shiro are spoiling for the fight.

And that’s it for week one! Being honest, it isn’t much of a cliffhanger. Shiro’s plan seems to go off without a hitch. The only danger I can foresee is that either the Alliance will be too powerful for X Bomber to beat or else they’ll get overwhelmed by the blast when the asteroid is destroyed. What will happen? Tune in to X Blogger next week to find out!

Chronicling Star Fleet is proving to be quite a task! Much about this mysterious puppet series is lost to the mists of time. Even the most well-repeated anecdotes have to be checked and called into question– I’ve yet to find proof that the studio fire Louis Elman was told about ever took place– and researching the history of the Star Fleet comics has proved twice as hard. For one thing, I’m a bit out of my depth in the world of comics. I’m by no means an expert so I have to lean heavily on the work of others, particularly Fred McNamara, John Freeman, and Shaqui Le Vesconte– all of whom have written extensively about Gerry Anderson-related comics and about Look-In magazine and to whom I owe a debt of gratitude. I’d also like to thank Piers Bell, Jack Knoll, Suzy Jones, Graham Bleathman, Andy Thomas, David Sisson, and everyone who has been kind enough to post about the comics online! See you again soon!

More Links and Sources:

Support me on buymeacoffee (a membership gets you early access!) or Patreon!

https://lookinarchive.com/homepage.html

https://securityhazard.net/

https://michaelmouse1967.wixsite.com/mag-a-zone/1982-issues-look-in

https://xbomber.co.uk/

1. Something that had eluded Gerry Anderson since Four Feather Falls at the dawn of the sixties and would continue to do so until Lavender Castle in 1999.

2. Star Wars was making it’s UK TV premiere– only about 4 years after debuting in cinemas.

3. This was a replacement for Tiswas and would eventualy become simply The Saturday Show. Big Daddy has a story all of his own… https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Daddy_(wrestler)

4. That was also the year that the nation switched to decimal currency.

5. https://www.facebook.com/groups/5141532379405165

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